Full house bundle, still being charged £140???

‎14-10-201618:20 - edited ‎14-10-201618:21

Hi,

I've been with Virgin since they took over from Telewest/Blueyonder in my area (ages ago now) and I'm used to seeing the bills steadily rise, often above inflation but I'm confused on checking the latest pricing for Virgin bundles against what I am currently paying.

Basically I was on the 'Big Kahuna, then Vivid 200etc, and checking my account today I am on the 'full house' bundle. But I am still being charges £140 a month, and no Superhub 3.0 being offered to me atm.

As I read it, this bundle should cost about £101 once the new users discount expires, so why am I being charged near £40 more with outdated equipment to boot?

I have noticed that my phone package is states as being XXL, with international calls. I have NEVER asked for this as I never use international calls.

This is my current package, now renamed as 'Full House' when I login online:

----------------These charges are for the period: 22 September - 21 October

Bundle Costs:£68.50 a month for 12 months then £101 a month+ Virgin Phone line for £19 a month

Total £120.

----------------------

Unfortunately there does not seem to be any way to alter my bundle online so I am stuck paying near £20 p/month more than I need to.

If someone can reply to tell me how I can change my bundle to the £120 priced one, and get the Superhub 3.0 and 2nd TIVO box that I am entitled to under the 'Full House' bundle, I would appreciate it as this is way out of order.

Re: Full house bundle, still being charged £140???

‎14-10-201619:04 - edited ‎14-10-201619:04

Thanks, I'll be on to 150 Monday morning.

Will I get the 2nd TIVO box to replace the old VHD box assuming they can change the package correctly (I am not overly bothered by the SH3. I figure I'd get one of them eventually if/when the SH2 I have currently fails).

Also, I've been trying to back track my bills to see when they changed the Phone to include International calls but they only go back to April. I never asked for that and (afaik) it's illegal to add something that is optional to your package (and will cost you more) without your permission. I knows its not a fortune at £2, but its not something I ever agreed to.

Re: Full house bundle, still being charged £140???

on ‎15-10-201616:33

Just wanted to add:

Shouldn't Virgin inform me when they change my account without my knowledge? I ask as I was signed up for the 'Big Kahuna', new contract and all, when that one rolled out, but was not informed that package is now defunct and a better one has replaced it, so it seems they just took it upon themselves to cobble a 'custom' package together, adding unwanted international calls as well, to keep the price as it was, and just renamed the TV package to 'Full House TV XL'.

As the 'Full house" package includes better than what I currently have (1gb TIVO and 500gb 2nd TIVO vs my current 500gb TIVO and a 2nd VHD-Box) for £20 less, I am not amused that the only way I found this out was because of a comparison site email in my inbox concerning broadband prices.

Unfortunately trying to see 'my upgrades and offers' for existing customers when signed into my account has never worked. Tries to load then throws a "Sorry, something's gone wrong" etc message at me, though I can navigate to the 'Full House' package and at least see what is available.

Re: Full house bundle, still being charged £140???

on ‎15-10-201617:35

Cant argue with that. Its kind of like your bank account, you need to check when your contract is over that you are getting decent value. Once a bundle is no longer available, and your contract term ends, you revert to the services that you had in the bundle, but charged at the standard rate. So not only are you paying more than a bundle price, your likely not getting a loyalty discount (small as they are now) either.

Unfortunately this is common practice across ISP's and indeed the utilities companies .VM would likely point out that you are informed of this (in the TOS) and that signing up for a new bundle involves a new contract term so they cant change it without your say so. But in reality its their TOS that means they cant- and there's nothing to stop them taking a lead and changing those. Im sure that its pure coincidence that the status quo suits the suppliers not the consumer....

The lesson - across a LOT of suppliers , energy, water ,ISP's, insurance- is review your services annually to see what both your current supplier and the market place has to offer. And remember dealing with the supplier direct is likely to get you a better deal than comparison sites.

Re: Full house bundle, still being charged £140???

on ‎15-10-201618:10

I only checked the comparison sites to see what others were offering, with no real intent of changing. But seeing the 'VIP Full House' package from Virgin listed there I checked it out, went to Virgin's site directly and found I couldn't see any upgrades or offers when signed in (error page) as it looks like being on a 'custom' package automatically blocks you from seeing them. Not hard to figure out why is it?

Needless to say, I aint amused, but you are right: We should periodically check to see what Virgins latest bundles are, as they do not tell you nor let you access/change to them online once they have you on a more expensive 'custom' service.

Re: Full house bundle, still being charged £140???

Ok, I was able to get into 'offers and upgrades' using chrome rather than Firefox as suggested in another thread.

Unfortunately they say I already have the best package called 'Big Daddy' with nothing about ' Full House' which is what my TV-XL is called on my bills.

The VIP full house package offers all channels and BB speeds, and calls etc that I get now, but is £20 cheaper than what I am currently paying and you get a 2nd TIVO box too so it's a no brainer what I'd prefer.

Was going to call 150 today but I've checked and seen I took on the Vivid 200 (Broadband) around the 28th October last year, so I'm wondering if they say I have to get to the end of the contract for that before they will accept a change from 'Big Daddy' to 'VIP Full House'? I don't think that should apply as the other services (TV and Phone) were signed up for some time earlier, but all the same would appreciate some feedback before calling so I know where I stand.

Re: Full house bundle, still being charged £140???

‎17-10-201616:28 - edited ‎17-10-201616:29

Just to update:

Decided to use online chat with chrome (wouldn't work with Firefox) and was getting conflicting information from the advisor, ie: the VIP Full house would cost me £124.99 (12 months new contract) and it would increase to £128.48 from 01/11/2016 due to yearly price increase. Was also told the 2nd TIVO box would cost another £5 on top of that,

I queried this and they said the VIP Full house package advertised online did not account for the price change (confusing since they already added that) and it was for 2 x 500gb TIVO's, and I already have a 1tb so that was the difference in getting an extra £5 added on.

That is not true so I posted the link to Virgins details on the package which clearly state otherwise ("1TB TiVo box and 500GB TiVo box") and after a 4/5 minute delay the advisor offered a 6 month discount keeping the cost below £125 for the next 6 months. Doing the math in my head that's more or less in line with the post November price hike for the package, and feeling a bit frustrated by then I agreed to get it over with, and they arranged for the new Tivo box to come Wednesday 19th.

Now I'm willing to give the advisor the benefit of the doubt and believe they simply had the wrong info for the package to hand (I suspect it was an overseas handler going by their name), as they were ok in offering the discount to bring it down once I posted the link and asked the question "Is this not false advertising?". I prefer to think they read the details from Virgin's page themselves once I gave them the link and realised the error, rather than it being anything deliberate.

Anyway, I will keep a close eye on the bills over the next 6 months (hopefully won't be any hassles and I have saved the transcript if there is) and in future will check regularly for what is currently on offer.

If I do need to contact them again though I think I'll opt for the phone next time as it might be easier to get my points across regarding the differences in what I'm being told, and what is being advertised.